"Don't worry," Team Leader Liu said, trying to reassure him. "You'll only feel bad for a day or two. Just drink more hot water."
Song Bin's face fell instantly. He looked like he was about to cry. "Can't you give me another dose of medicine? I don't care if the side effects are worse. My whole body hurts and itches, it feels like thousands of bugs are crawling inside me, gnawing at my flesh. It's unbearable! What if they eat up my organs?"
Pain for a while was still better than the constant dread. Maybe it was just psychological, but the oozing wound on his leg seemed quieter now, as if the bugs weren't wriggling anymore.
Minister Zhao hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, but listen carefully. That last dose was just for your leg. If we inject the full-body dosage, the side effects will be ten times stronger. You'll have to endure it."
Song Bin clenched his jaw and nodded, just about to speak when Jing Shu came rushing out. She waved her hand to stop them and sprayed something on his wounds. "No, don't use that medicine. The side effects are too strong. I've got a special spray here that works pretty well."
She hadn't brought it out earlier because she wanted to see how far the Ministry's research had gone, to get a better grasp of things before the capital competition.
But now, watching poor Song Bin suffer like that, she couldn't let him go through it any longer, nor could she risk leaving any lasting damage on him. She'd have to make it up to him later anyway.
She'd planned to use the spray after they left, but seeing how desperate things had gotten, she had no choice but to use the Bodhi Essence early.
Even so, her heart thumped nervously. Minister Zhao had said Bodhi could only suppress about eighty percent of the parasites. She had no idea how effective her own extraction would be. But considering how those parasites had exploded earlier and none had dared to come near her, it seemed pretty damn effective, didn't it?
"Hey, what are you doing, girl?! Stop that, it's dangerous!"
"What did you just spray on him? Ordinary insecticides are even worse! If the parasites are provoked, they'll go completely berserk! Many tests showed it increases the fatality rate by ten times!"
Cold sweat broke out all over Song Bin, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
The entire tin hut exploded into chaos, everyone shouting over each other.
Minister Zhao barked orders. "Team Leader Liu, quickly! Bring out Drug No. 1! Xiao Wang, get ready for surgery and stand by for emergency treatment! I'll check the parasite activity first, if it's bad…"
Everyone jumped into action, moving fast. Jing Shu tried to explain, shouting over the noise. "Wait, you're misunderstanding! This is Bodhi Essence, it's—"
But no one was listening. Her voice was drowned out, and somehow she even got shoved right out the door.
"…" Jing Shu stood there speechless.
"Fine, whatever. Let's just see how well the Bodhi Essence works then."
They were professionals after all. In less than two minutes, the whole setup was ready. Minister Zhao personally took samples from Song Bin and started examining them under the microscope.
Team Leader Liu wiped his forehead. "Minister, how bad is it? Which stage of berserk are we in? Which emergency plan should we use? Disinfection and anesthesia are ready. If it doesn't work, we'll operate."
Everyone waited anxiously.
Song Bin wiped the sweat off his face. His heart was pounding like crazy, but… huh? He actually felt fine? Even kind of… good?
Minister Zhao frowned in confusion, took a few more samples from different parts of Song Bin's body, and began testing again.
"Minister? What's going on?"
"Say something!"
He rubbed his eyes, waved a hand, and said, "Team Leader Liu, come take a look. My eyes must be playing tricks on me."
What the hell? Under the microscope were only a few sluggish parasites—the rest were dead. Completely dead.
Eradication rate: 99.9%!
Team Leader Liu took over and checked again, muttering, "Forget berserk, there's not even a single active parasite left… that's impossible. Our best medicine so far only suppresses about eighty-five percent…"
He took more samples from different spots, ran the tests again, and got the same results. After a stunned moment, his eyes lit up. "Minister, this is a breakthrough! That girl's spray—it's a miracle drug!"
"Where's the girl?"
"Are you serious? It's that effective?"
"The results are right there!"
The tin hut erupted in cheers.
"She's over here!" someone shouted, dragging Jing Shu back inside.
Minister Zhao looked ecstatic. "Why were you hiding so far away? Tell us about your spray, girl! You've made a huge contribution!"
Jing Shu looked helpless. "I wasn't hiding, I was pushed out! I yelled several times that it was Bodhi Essence, but no one listened. Song Bin, how do you feel now?"
Song Bin scratched his head and grinned. "Feels like I'm completely fine."
Minister Zhao rubbed his hands eagerly. "Can we study your spray? How did you make it? Did you add anything special? Tell us everything!"
Jing Shu casually tossed him the spray bottle. Team Leader Liu caught it like it was treasure and ran off to test it.
She shrugged. "Go ahead, it's easy. Just crush a pile of Bodhi leaves, squeeze out the juice, strain it, and bottle it up. Oh right, I added a little lavender oil. Smells nice, doesn't it?"
Everyone in the room shouted at once, "You wasteful girl!"
Minister Zhao's heart practically broke. "You're killing me! Do you know how much Bodhi that must've wasted?!"
A few minutes later, Team Leader Liu came running back, eyes shining. "Minister! The results are in! It's pure Bodhi extract, no additives except a bit of fragrance. We tested it on fifth-generation parasite samples—the suppression rate is 99.9%!"
Gasps and cheers filled the hut.
Even Jing Shu raised an eyebrow in surprise. She hadn't added anything else. She'd deliberately skipped the Spirit Spring since she knew this spray would be tested publicly during the competition. There was no way she could supply Spirit Spring for mass production anyway—it was too precious.
Minister Zhao frowned. "But ordinary Bodhi shouldn't have such high suppression."
Team Leader Liu's voice trembled with excitement. "The active molecules in this Bodhi extract are ten times stronger than normal! That means the Bodhi itself must be incredibly vital, maybe because of its environment or something else!"
Jing Shu suddenly realized. Back when she'd grown Bodhi and other herbs for the Wu City Medicinal Herb Association, she'd secretly watered them with a touch of Spirit Spring. The ones inside her space had been fully nurtured by it all along.
As soon as Team Leader Liu finished speaking, everyone turned to stare at her with hopeful eyes.
Minister Zhao smiled warmly. "So, girl, how much of this Bodhi do you have? Where did you get it?"
Jing Shu smiled back and reached out a hand politely. "Let's introduce ourselves properly. I'm Jing Shu, Vice President of the Wu City Medicinal Herb Association, and the representative for our team in the capital competition. The batch of Bodhi I mentioned earlier? I grew it myself and brought it all here. You can judge for yourselves how good it is."
"This Bodhi's incredible, we need it desperately!"
"My god, this is amazing! What great news!"
"She's from the association? That makes her one of us!"
"A whole batch of Bodhi like that? We're saved!"